Student Perceptions of Learning Models in First-Year Programming Courses

This paper explores student perceptions of the flipped and traditional classroom modalities in two concurrent programming courses among first-year ECE students at a Senior Military College. The course in C programming operated in a flipped classroom style building off of the C Programming zyBook. The second course was a traditional lecture/lab course focused on problem-solving using MATLAB and it was built off a workbook. Students reported high enjoyment of both courses with slightly higher enjoyment of the traditional modality. However, students reported a sense of increased opportunity to ask questions and interact in the flipped classroom course while also expressing a sense that participation in the flipped classroom course helped reduce their dependency on the instructor for learning-a result that may suggest further exploration of flipped classroom pedagogies in transitional and introductory courses. Further study is needed to explore these dimensions and the contributing factors that led to the perceptions shared by the students.